How Track Retirement makes money.
We earn money when readers request a call or a quote through our partners. Here's exactly how — and the wall that keeps revenue decisions separate from editorial ones.
Track Retirement is free for readers to use. We fund our work by earning a referral fee when readers click through to one of our partners (annuity carriers and advisors) and complete a qualifying action. This page documents the compensation, the partners, and the wall between revenue and rankings.
How affiliate compensation works
When you click a link to one of our partners and complete a qualifying action — such as requesting an annuity match or a quote — the partner pays us a flat fee. Typical compensation:
- Annuity quote match: a flat fee per qualified meeting with an independently licensed insurance agent. Those agents are paid a commission by the issuing carrier if you buy a contract; they are not fiduciaries, and neither is Track Retirement.
You never pay Track Retirement for using our comparison tools, guides, or calculators. The product you eventually choose may have its own fees and costs — those are set by the issuing carrier, not by us.
The wall — why compensation doesn't move rankings
- Rankings come from a scoring rubric, not the rate card. See our methodology for the scoring criteria by product type.
- Per-partner payouts are not a scoring input. What a partner pays us is not one of the criteria in the rubric, and it is never used to set or adjust ranking position.
- "Best of" lists include products we earn nothing on. If the highest-rated product in a category isn't a partner, it still appears in the list — sometimes with an unlinked card noting "this isn't a partner, but we still think it's the best in category."
- Order of cards reflects score, not compensation. A partner that pays us more per match and one that pays less appear in the order our score puts them — not the order revenue would.
What's not a partner
Our guides also cover products we don't earn a commission on. When a non-partner product scores well — for example a low-cost MYGA from a carrier we have no partnership with — we say so plainly. Our job is to show you the comparison, not to steer you toward whichever option pays us most. We do not recommend any specific annuity contract to any individual; only a licensed agent who knows your full situation can do that.
How to give us no money at all
If you'd prefer we earn nothing from your decision: use our comparison data and rate surveys to inform your choice, then apply directly with the carrier (not through our link). Everything you need to make an independent decision is on the page — the comparison value doesn't require you to click our affiliate links.
State licensing and registration
Track Retirement is not a lender, broker, insurance company, insurance agency, insurance agent or producer, or registered investment advisor, and does not sell insurance. We are a publisher and comparison service. The carriers and advisors we link to are independently licensed in their respective states; we recommend confirming any provider's licensing through your state's regulatory department before signing a contract.
Questions
Specific questions about our compensation arrangements? Email info@trackretirement.com — we aim to respond within a few business days. Compensation disclosure isn't a checkbox to us; it's the foundation of the trust we ask readers to extend.